Monday, February 23, 2009

Health in the news: Cont...

Myself and the chief librarian will be participating in our hospital's Mini Med this year along with Dr. Eddy Lang. Dr. Lang teaches Evidence-based medicine to McGill medical students, is associate editor of several medical journals and co-authors a health column for the Montreal Gazette. His contributions to journalism are in fact the topic of this post.

HealthWatch runs every other week as a regular Gazette feature where medical journalist Evra Taylor Levy and emergency physician Eddy Lang help make sense of sometimes contradictory medical research.

What is so special about the column is that it does everything I was criticizing journalists for NOT doing the last time I wrote, and even takes it a step further by breaking it all down into clearly marked sections that help readers make sense of the research. Specific sections vary by column but here are a few to give you a sense:

The study: provides the full reference.

What was already known about...: gives a brief overview of the topic.

What was this study about and how was it done?: sometimes this one is broken down into two sections:

What kind of study was this?: explains the study- for example if it was a randomized-controlled trial you get an explanation of what that means. And:

How was this study conducted?: explains the methodology in plain English.

What makes this study unique?: is self-explanatory.

What were the key findings?: see above.

So, what's the bottom line?: what does this mean for the readers? What should they do now that they are aware of this study?

Online resources: provides links to just that, online consumer health resources on the topic at hand.

Can you see why I'm excited? Take a look at this column about diets and see how much easier it is to understand the research. The only thing missing is a link to a full text copy of the study itself.

About Info.Rx

Update:

In the fall of 2008 a Clinical Medical Librarianship component was added to the service. The librarian now acts as a resident supervisor in the teaching rooms at the clinic one half-day per week, providing support for clinical decision-making in addition to continued support for patient education.

The service is based on an innovative InformationRx model first implemented in the UK (see: Early experience of thecontribution of an information specialist within a primaryhealthcare team: a partnership venture betweenlibrary and healthcare services, doi: 10.1177/0961000604048915].

This model sees the information professional acting as a member of the health care team by providing informational/instructional support for patients/families and health professionals at point of care. Support for the service is provided by the main hospital library and is vital for ensuring long term sustainability.

The information professional is available 7 hrs per week to consult with patients/families that are in need of health information.

Health staff are encouraged to write InformationRx for patients which can then be filled by the information professional. Consultations with patients are treated as clinical encounters and are documented in the charts. The service has a clinic in the Centre's appointment scheduling software.

Patients and family members are welcome to drop in, or to submit questions by phone or email at their convenience. They can schedule appointments by contacting the information professional directly or by calling their team coordinator.

The library provides support by welcoming questions from patients and their families when the coordinator is not available. Herzl patients and families are able to borrow books from the Patient and Family Resource Centre's (PFRC) print collection, and a family medicine section has been created on the PFRC website which provides links to reliable and up-to-date consumer health resources.

Author"s note

Important: While based on real consultations, the cases posted in this blog have been mashed up, fictionalized, posted out of sequence, and otherwise tinkered with in order to maintain the privacy and comfort of the parties involved.

Also, the views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employers.

About this blog

The Patient health Information Service at Herzl (H-PHIS) opened its doors in early July of this year (2007) and is in the early developmental stages. The challenges faced by myself (the service's coordinator), the staff, and the health care team at the HFPC are many and varied, as is to be expected when implementing a new and innovative service.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the InfoRx model is the presence and participation of the information professional/librarian at point of care. This new and multidisciplinary approach presents a distinctive challenge. Health and support staff are not always clear on what knowledge and skills a librarian brings to the team. Conversely, I must be able to recognize and adapt to the needs and character of the community and of the setting itself.

This blog was created in response to some very astute and constructive criticism. After presenting to the residents at their weekly rounds, I was approached by one of the partners at the clinic who suggested that rather than introducing myself and the service and then explaining how to use it, it would have been more effective to present some cases illustrating what the service has to offer to the residents and to their patients. I see this as a perfect example of the kind of disconnect that can happen when two very different professions come together. In essence I had presented the way I would have to my own professional colleagues, but this was not the most appropriate approach given my audience.

After giving it some thought it occurred to me that it could be useful, both for myself and the rest of the team, for me to present a weekly case here, and talk about some of the challenges we are faced with and how these might best be resolved. Hopefully this will introduce some transparency to the InfoRx process.

This is meant to serve as a record of, and forum for discussion about, our challenges and successes. It is hopefully also an opportunity for other information professionals to be inspired by one example of what can be accomplished outside of the library setting.

About Me

Francesca Frati has an MLIS from Dalhousie University and is the wearer of many interconnected professional hats. She works at the SMBD Jewish General Hospital Health Sciences Library (HSL) as Patient Information Specialist and Instruction Librarian, at the Herzl Family Practise Centre (HFPC) as Patient Information Coordinator, and in her spare (work) time provides research support for physicians.
Francesca is a member of the advisory committee for the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Conference on Practise Improvement: "Blueprint for the Medical Home".